Shadow the Hedgehog is cool. He’s one of those characters you look at and just say, “yeah I get it.” He’s like the edginess and aesthetic of early 2000’s Hot Topic given mortal form. Fans know how cool Shadow is, and it’s looking more and more likely that Sega knows that too. Earlier this year Sega proclaimed 2024 as the “Year of Shadow - Fearless,” and now in a new interview with Famitsu Sonic x Shadow Generations producer Shun Nakamura says, “If Shadow’s popularity continues to grow, we may see more games featuring him in the future.” That’s some seriously good info for Sonic fans who have known he’s the best character for decades.
The Famitsu interview, translated by Sonic City, covers a wide array of topics, from Shadow’s big year to the way Sonic Team designed the latest game as a “first game” for Sonic beginners. That particular question about Shadow’s popularity is very interesting, however, as Nakamura says he thinks anyone who sees Sonic 3, the upcoming film releasing in December, will enjoy playing as Shadow in Generations. The whole point in creating this new remastered and enhanced version of Generations was to have a title where players can say “If I play this, I’ll understand Sonic.”
Sonic x Shadow Generations is one part remaster and one part new game. The Sonic campaign is a an updated version of the 2011 release Sonic Generations, while the Shadow campaign is entirely new content that’s roughly as long as the original Generations.
Of course, Sonic has long been one of the most famous mascots in gaming, but it’s no stretch to say the Hollywood films have seen his popularity explode exponentially. Now, more than ever, there’s a serious push on Sega’s party to craft interesting new games, but also transform Sonic into different forms of media — including merchandise, animated TV shows, and even wild partnerships with DC Comics.
“It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly when, but as the Sonic IP grew larger, we realized we needed to think beyond just games,” Nakamura says, “This included collaborating with other companies for various products and experimenting with different approaches. We began focusing on planning out themes for Sonic as an IP in a more organized way, making sure to roll out content steadily each year to grow our audience.”
With that huge push, it’s easy to see why Shadow would be the second character Sega wants to push after Sonic himself. For one, he’s the biggest other hedgehog in the franchise, meaning you can instantly look at Shadow and make an association that he’s related to Sonic, in some way. Secondly, his rough and moody personality is a fantastic foil to the blue blur’s overwhelming positivity.
A big part of Shadow’s new popularity is Sonic 3, and interestingly Sonic x Shadow Generations will feature a DLC called Tokyo Mission, which starts Keanu Reeves as his version of the character from the film. This means it’s just the second video game Reeve’s voice has appeared in over the last decade, with the other being Cyberpunk 2077.
This DLC apparently wasn’t planned from the beginning of development, but it became an idea as the film moved further into production.
“Sonic × Shadow Generations was developed with the expectation that Shadow would play a major role in the movie, so we had the idea of creating content that would tie in with the film. The concrete discussions about the DLC only started once both the game and movie were well into production,” Nakamura says, “While the worldviews of the movie and the game are slightly different, this DLC creates a flow where people who discover Sonic through the movie will want to play the game, or those who have played the game will be encouraged to watch the movie.”
There are some other interesting tidbits throughout the Famitsu interview, but it’s remarkable to see how much thought and intention Sega is putting into this Year of Shadow. For many years in the 2000s and early 2010s, it seemed like Sonic was on a steady downward trend, with multiple games failing to deliver anything interesting. Those dark days seem to be long in the past, however, and Sonic, and Shadow’s, future is looking brighter than ever. I, for one, welcome the second coming of Shadow.
